The Screecher
- ZK
- Oct 19, 2019
- 8 min read
Updated: Mar 12, 2020
Marcus, a 200 year old man, was once upon a time the smartest man alive. But now, he lived on the streets, being a mere annoyance to people.
When Marcus was born, his parents were delighted. Not only did this little boy turn out to be handsome, but also a quick learner. He instantly picked up what his parents taught, and as he grew up, children of similar age groups started looking up to Marcus. What children of the age 10 did, he somehow adapted to it during much younger years of his life. Marcus not only helped his fellow friends, but also provided suggestions and solutions to the villagers.
The news of his intelligence soon reached the ruling kingdom, and soon, King Henry, himself decided to pay a visit to this young prodigy. The villagers prepared for his arrival, and Marcus' family were overwhelmed with the situation, since their child was barely 12
One fine day, the king arrived and after observing Marcus for some time he decided to test his decision taking skills. He presented him with a problem, without revealing that he faced this years ago, to which his advisers gave him a terrible advice,
"Marcus I wanted you to solve it something for me. If our kingdom was at war, and we needed to choose between sending in men by land or by boats, what would you suggest in this case?"
Marcus thought for a moment, and smiled. "Your Grace, sending men through boats would not be that beneficial to us. The weather is usually terrible, and majority of the hostile boats coming from west would automatically be taken care of. Hence, majority of the men should be sent on foot, to protect our lands, and only a small portion should be sent to look after the coast. Had we done this 2 years ago, our causalities would have been far lesser, than what we had faced."
The king looked surprised and asked, "Marcus, how are you aware of this?"
Marcus politely replied, "I like to run around and feed my curiosity."
This truly made the king feel determined and proud. He offered his family several gifts, and asked Marcus to be one of his personal adviser, after having received proper training by his officials. The young boy was a little hesitant, but he considered giving the decision some time.
The villagers were quite scared about this situation, since they started feeling intimidated. Some tried convincing Marcus' family by telling them that the boy was too young, and that this may not work out, since the king's council was known to be extremely strict.
A few days later, Marcus received a letter from the council, stating that if he were to accept the offer, he would have to give up on his family upon reaching "the age", and avoid all contact with them. The letter explained that this was merely due to keeping things private, since the king could not afford any information landing in wrong hands.
Marcus thought over the decision for quite a while and finally reached a decision. He wrote back to the king, and mentioned that he would take up his offer, and in return, he wanted to support his family until he was allowed to. The king happily accepted the request, and sent his men to escort Marcus to the palace.
After years of training, the little boy was finally ready to assume the duties of being the king's personal adviser. This position was one of the most honorable one, since the advisers took part in decision making that would help the kingdom flourish and survive against hostile kingdoms.
Marcus, as a young boy, quickly became everyone's favorite, since his intelligent mind always provided solutions. But the older council members started to grow jealous of his presence. They even started conspiring against him, picked up on the tiniest mistake that Marcus made, and tried spreading rumors around. Surprisingly, Marcus did not have any idea about the situation that was about to happen in a few years.
On his 18th birthday, Marcus turned into a fine young man. Before taking up the position, he decided to pay his family one last visit. The family had one last meal together, and were completely unaware of the conspiracies being cooked. One of the council member sent a man with letter containing some really confidential information. The man was supposed to escort Marcus back to the palace, so as he entered his house, he quickly planted the letter, without coming to anyone's notice. Both Marcus and the man left after this.
This small letter was just the beginning of Marcus' troubles.
A few days later, one of king's spy, the same man, who had planted the information, informed the king about a rumor.
"Your Grace, the villagers have somehow gotten to know about the princess."
The king was infuriated, and immediately ordered his men to search the village. His men looked around, only to find the planted letter in Marcus' house. This came out as a shock to both Marcus and the king.
"What does the letter say?" asked King.
"Carol. Western forests. Third tower. Vines."
Carol was king's only daughter, and also, the most beautiful princess in any nearby kingdom. The king only wanted to protect her location from the hostile kingdoms, that usually had their spies living in the village.
"Move her from there, now! And Marcus, you better come with me!"
Years ago, the king had asked Marcus about his opinion on how to hide the young princess, and after a long discussion, it was decided that she would be kept hidden in the forests. The king personally wrote the letter and sent it to Marcus through one of his council member. But this person sent a duplicate letter, and kept the original one to himself, only to make use of it later in the coming years.
Marcus was advised to burn the letter to keep the information hidden, and he did so.
Marcus was nervous, but confident that neither he, nor his family had anything to do with this. He spoke with the king and tried convincing him of the same, explaining that he had burnt the letter. The king couldn't understand what was going on, and although he was suspicious of this event, he decided to exile Marcus' family, to prevent the spread of this information.
A few days later, news came that the family was found dead. This left Marcus confused and depressed. He felt that the initial decision to exile them was unfair, and now that they were dead, he couldn't understand why such an extreme decision was taken, without even consulting him.
The king approached Marcus and tried explaining that he was not in support of the killing, but he had no choice, since he couldn't risk the exiled family members spreading the rumors. The king tried consoling Marcus, to which Marcus responded by saying, "I understand the reasoning behind this, but I also request you to give me a few days to deal with this, especially to prove my innocence." The king agreed, since he truly cared about him.
Marcus went into complete isolation for a few days, and almost considered giving up his position. He knew someone was behind this, and he was determined to find out the culprit.
On the other hand, council members took advantage of this situation, and slowly corrupted the king's mind. They told him that Marcus could be possibly really upset with the decision, and could be plotting a revenge. Since Marcus had access to every one, the council members warned about the possibility of him coming across sensitive information, things that shouldn't be known. This worried the king gravely.
One of the council member planted a very old letter in Marcus' room, something that was extremely sensitive, and only known to the king. This would remain hidden until Marcus discovered it himself, but this did not happen for a while.
In the meantime, Marcus was discovering some really strange information about the corruption spread amongst the council members. After inquiring around, Marcus came to know about a failed attempt to kill the king. Another piece revealed that someone was trying to spread rumors about the king being biased towards the rich class. And another rumor being spread around was about kingdoms supplies being diverted towards another kingdom, in exchange for gold. This did not settle well with Marcus, and he immediately understood that these were the same people, who are possibly conspiring against him. And the only people who felt remotely intimidated and insecure, were the council members.
After carrying out weeks of investigation and gathering evidence, Marcus decided that it was time to present this to the king, so that he could both protect the kingdom and clear his name. But he then discovered the planted letter, that appeared to have been written decades ago. It had a royal seal, and Marcus immediately understood that it was written by the previous king.
"My son was murdered by Henry, and he plans on becoming the king.
He killed him, and now he is coming after me. Stop him!"
This left Marcus baffled. He was confused if the information he had gathered was worth sharing at all. Hence, Marcus decided to burn the letter, before someone blamed him for it.
But unfortunately, the council members were already ahead of the game, and arrested Marcus with the letter.
A few moments later, Marcus was brought to king, with only few members around him. He tried explaining things, but was asked to be silent. A witch was called in that promised to use a spell that would cause a man to never speak again. Since the king still had a soft spot for Marcus, he decided to not kill him, but instead use this spell. Without wasting a moment, he asked the witch to do cast the spell.
*Screech*
Everyone went silent, except Marcus.
*Screech?*
With tears in his eyes, he realized that his voice had been replaced with an annoying scream. Not only did Marcus feel betrayed, but extremely hurt with what had happened. Was this the price the smartest man had to pay for being too loyal?
He left the palace and decided to never reveal the evidences he had found.
It had been done, but the king never felt satisfied with his decision. Years went by, and the kingdom started doing poorly. At one point, a few loyal guards tried warn the king about the council members, and their conspiracies. The king decided to find look for Marcus, and hence he sent his men all around the village.
Meanwhile, Marcus struggled to survive. After initially leaving the palace, he decided to reside at his old family house, only to find it burnt. Villagers were warned by the guards to not help Marcus if he ever came over. Hence, the smartest and the most respectable man in the village, led a life of a homeless man, who lived on streets.
Years went by, and the king's men finally found Marcus. He was brought to the dying king.
"I wanted to apologize for what I did Marcus, but I want to assure you, that I asked the witch to have mercy on you. She in return promised to take your voice away, but grant you a long life, a very long life. I've also come to know about the conspiracies, and I know you were only collecting proof. I wish I had listened to you back then."
Upon hearing this, Marcus was left disappointed. Not only did he have an annoying screech, he also had a long life to live with it.
After the king's death, the new council members refused to provide any help with finding the witch. Marcus was left all alone, yet again. He knew it was impossible to find the witch without any help, and hence... he waited.
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